oca the art of photography course. Assignment 2

1. The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 2
SEVERAL POINTS IN DELIBERATE SHAPE
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 80mm. 1/400s at f5.6 ISO 800. The
dandelion heads make an extended V shape which is
reflected by the grass shape to the left. Because the
heads to the right are behind grass blades and the one
to the right is soft focussed, the central head is
dominant. The ball shape of the heads is contrasted by
the linearity of the grasses.
TWO POINTS
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 105mm. 1/320s at f5.6 ISO 1600.
The image was taken in a slight wind so a relatively
high shutter speed was used requiring a high ISO. On
reflection a lower ISO setting would have resulted in
less graininess and the shutter speed could have been
increased to compensate. Two distinct focus points
are visible with the right grass head more sharply
focussed than the left, while the left is a single point
made from two heads inline with each other. The curve
of the left heads points towards the top of the right head
giving a continuity of focus.

2. The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 2
SINGLE POINT DOMINATING COMPOSITION
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-55mm
zoom lens set at 48mm. 1/125s at f8.0 ISO 180. The
central positioning of the flower which is star shaped is
emphasised by the small flower heads in the
background which point away from the central head like
wheel spokes. The slightly soft focus was unitensional
with the camera actually focussing on the left hand
petals. However no post-processing was used to
sharpen the image as the soft focus creates a greater
feeling of depth created by the deep blue / purple of the
petals
DIAGONALS
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-55mm
zoom lens set at 105mm. 1/125s at f5.60 ISO 100.
The diagonal lines of the flowers, and stems are
paralleled by the diagonal of the leaf at the right hand
corner. The original framing was with the camera in
standard landscape orientation, but rotating by 45° so
that the tip of the right hand flower pointed to the right
corner of the frame has created a more interesting
composition.

3. The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 2
PATTERN
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 62mm. 1/100s at f18.0 ISO 800 to
gain greater depth of field. The intension with this image
is to dominate the frame with the white ‘candyfloss’
appearance of the flower seed heads. The white is
broken up at intervals by the vertical grass stems. The
focus point is to the left of the image with focus locked
on the first full length stem. The darkness of the image
to the left emphasises the sharp left side of the image
with drops off as the viewers eye moves to the right
where the soft focus and greater white area gives a
‘misty’ feel to this section of the image.
HORIZONTAL LINE
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 105mm. 1/100s at f8.0 ISO 400. This
image is designed to give a dramatic plateaux feel to
the seed head by positioning the seed line at the central
horizontal line and choosing a darker background to
bring the viewer attention to the relatively colourless
seeds. The flower stems point to the seeds like the
spokes of a wheel, an effect which is emphasised by
cropping the image close to cut the central stalk of the
flower short.

4. The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 2
DISTINCT IRREGULAR SHAPES
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 85mm. 1/200s at f8.0 ISO 200. The
normally fairly mundane dead rose heads have been
shot in an interesting shape using two central focus
points and an inverted triangle formed by the three
closest flower heads. The shrivelled appearance of the
individual heads is in contrast to the green background
of the foliage beyond.
CURVES
Taken with a Finepix HS20 Bridge camera set at 30mm.
1/45s at f4.5 ISO 100. The slight curl to the lower left
edge of the foreground leaf seems to join the curled
background leaf to create curved shapes which are in
contrast to the thin linear flower stalks which come
forwards in the image. By fixing the focus point to the V
shaped stalk at the upper left 3rd of the image and
choosing a relatively shallow depth of field the effect is
one of the stalks coming towards the viewer.

5. The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 2
PATTERN
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 70mm. 1/640s at f4.5 ISO 200. The
intension with this image was to recreate the feeling of
infinity which I had standing in the field filled with
flowers. A narrow depth of field was chosen with a
central focus point. The camera was positioned 1ft
from the ground to give the feeling of being in the field
rather than looking down at it. The soft focus creates
relatively abstract splashes of colour of the yellow
flowers against the green background.
SEVERAL POINTS
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 90mm. 1/500s at f5.6 ISO 800. The
narrow depth of field and tuft like nature of the flower
heads seems to make them float on a sea of green.
The three foreground flowers create a diagonal line
which is mirrored by the flower stems, especially the 45°
stem within the foreground.

6. The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 2
DISTINCT IRREGULAR SHAPES
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 92mm. 1/200s at f8.0 ISO 800.
These flowers have an interesting bulbous shape to
their petals which is in stark contrast to the green
background. I experimented with cropping the image to
place the flowers off centre, but they are so dramatic
that I felt a central position was more dramatic.
HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL LINES
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 90mm. 1/400s at f5.6 ISO 800. The
first thing which struck me about these flowers was the
shape. They grew on the side of a canal and as the
path was relatively low, the view was from below
slightly. This feeling of being beneath them was
emphasised by taking a lower position for the shot. The
focus point was on the stalk with a relatively narrow
depth of field to give the stalks a harder appearance to
emphasise the linearity rather than the softness of the
flowers.

7. The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 2
DISTINCT SHAPES
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 18-105mm
zoom lens set at 105mm. 1/60s at f8.0 ISO 200. The
aim of this photograph was to use close focus to create
a pattern using the water drop on a leaf, and to bring
out the shine to make them more prominent. The shot
was taken early morning to gain reflective light and
cropped close to emphasise the droplets rather than the
whole leaf. By spot focussing on the large droplet and
keeping the depth of field mid to narrow the front of the
leaf is in softer focus to allow the eye to see the
serrated edge but to de-emphasise it in contrast to the
starkness of the water droplets.
TWO POINTS OF FOCUS
Taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR using An 70-300mm
zoom lens set at 170mm. 1/800s at f5.0 ISO 200. The
aim of this image was to set the focus on the flower but
to use foreshortening by choosing a long focal length.
As a narrow depth of field was used, by chance the
arched single blade of grass to the left which stood level
with the flower remains in sharp focus with the flower
petals while the rest of the grass has softer focus.

8. The Art of Photography Christopher Norris 397682 Assignment 2
• Learning log located at http://chrisnorrisoca.blogspot.co.uk/
• Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/norrisphysio
• Student has a writing tremor (OCA informed of disability upon registration) so unable
to keep a hard copy sketchbook